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For geraniums to bloom beautifully, many people think you need to give them a large window box and more substrate. But the reality is different! Geraniums require exactly the opposite. The larger the box, the bigger the plant will be, but at the same time it will be without flowers. Geraniums once decorated every balcony; their popularity has since waned, which is a pity, because on a windowsill or hanging on a railing they provide unending beauty.
To get pelargoniums, i.e. geraniums, to bloom, you will need to provide the following
As soon as you bring geraniums home from the store, plant them in neutral or slightly alkaline soil. In summer give them fertilization with a product enriched with potassium and phosphorus — use liquid fertilizers so that the roots can absorb all the nutrients. The soil should be airy and not too wet. If you plan to keep geraniums through the winter, give them at least once during the winter a fertilizer containing manganese, boron and iodine. Note that it is not appropriate to fertilize geraniums with a nitrogen fertilizer in autumn or winter; it can harm them. And as you surely know, complex fertilizers are full of nitrogen. Try grandma’s recipe for a great fertilizer that will support healthy growth and abundant flowering of geraniums.
Prepare
- Water 2 liters
- Wood ash 100 grams
- Yeast 20 grams
- Potassium permanganate 10 granules
- Iodine 10 drops
- Sugar 4 tablespoons
Prepare a container with a volume of three liters. Now boil two liters of water and add wood ash, preferably from birch, which you should sift to a fine powder. Once the liquid cools, crush the yeast and add it to the liquid. Use fresh yeast; dry is not a sure bet. Next add the sugar and stir. Let the liquid sit for about two days in a dark place. After two days add the potassium permanganate and the drops of iodine. Just before using the fertilizer, enrich the liquid with five drops of hydrogen peroxide.
How to use the fertilizer
You must dilute the resulting fertilizer in a ratio of 1:2. That means one liter of fertilizer is diluted in two liters of standing water. If you use that amount, before you water the plants, drop fifteen drops of hydrogen peroxide with a concentration of 3% into the watering can. Such fertilizer can be used once a week. Store the fertilizer at a temperature from zero to five degrees, but no longer than one month.
